The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium plant botanically known as Pelargonium×hortorum and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balfanero’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif., during February 2000. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Geranium cultivars with a vigorous, upright mounded growth habit, dark green-colored foliage, and new and unique flower color.
The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary breeding line 855-10, not patented, characterized by its semi-double hot pink-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and medium growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary breeding line 1090-1, not patented, characterized by its large semi-double hot pink-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and medium growth habit. The new Geranium was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during March 2001 at Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since March 2001 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill., has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.